Five hot topics in Risk Science for 2013

http://youtube.com/riskbites

A completely personal list of areas and topics that are on my risk science radar for 2013. What have I missed? Please include in the comments below!

For more information, see http://www.risksense.org/2013/01/01/a...

Happy new year!
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[Many thanks to David Ropeik (@dropeik on Twitter) for his suggestions]

On the list:

Big Data [including high throughput screening, genetic screening, personalized risk profiles, personalized medicine, risk prediction and safety by design]

C-Health [Cloud Health, including mobile apps, distributed data collection, ubiquitous sensors, personalized exposure and risk reports]

Responsible Innovation [including advanced manufacturing, synthetic biology, sophisticated materials and 3D printing]

"Headology" [including risk perception, risk communication, individual and group dynamics, evaluating risk-risk and risk-benefit tradeoffs]

Complex interactions [including low dose effects, chronic exposure, non-linearity in dose-response, hormone-like behavior, epigenetics and synergistic interactions]

• Category

  Education

[Hilary Sutcliffe]

Great, so glad to see Responsible Innovation and Headology in there. Not sure Headology will catch on, but hey! The big ones for me are Early Warnings - how do you tell a nutter from an early warning and how do you get people to respond quick enough when an early warning is spotted. Given that we can't anticipate all the risks, particularly social risks of new areas of science - how do we get cleverer at being more responsive.

Second is the involvement of the public - how, why and what for

[riskbites]

Thanks Hilary - kicking myself that I didn't get the early warning and credible sources stuff in!

[David Zaruk]

Great bite. Headology has been around for more than a decade - since we started trying to get natural scientists to communicate more to the public. For me, EH risk issues will continue to localise around regional crises or policy attempts - in Brussels I can anticipate a lot of publications on fracking and EDCs (particularly on pesticide issues) - but I am really looking forward to the next food crisis - someone should be testing all of those nutriceuticals we've been pumping in our bodies.

[treefrin4747]

I would add increased fracturing of publics and media, whereby we more and more tend to favour information sources that conform with our existing biases rather than challenging them, and online networks dominate as news sources, so many people move away from the recent dominance of mass media and return to 'global town gossip' for forming attitudes to things.

[Brian Robinson]

Don't disagree with any of this, though I think these will be longer term than just 2013, as your realize.

However, I'd add robotics, at least for an issue that I think will start to get much more play and interest in 2013. From the plain functional robots to the "human expression" robots we've been hearing of lately, they will start to be talked of as an addition to health care, both as a practical and psychological aid, especially for the elderly. However, definite risks involved.